The North American International Auto Show, more popularly known as the Detroit Motor Show, slightly struggled this year—at least, in terms of attendance.
The 16-day auto event held at the Cobo Center in Detroit, Michigan wrapped up with 774,179 people in attendance, which is a 4.3 percent drop from last year’s 809,161 turnout.
Among the attendees were exhibitors, manufacturers, mobility experts, automakers, car enthusiasts, and members of the press. There were 2,000 companies from 26 different countries present during the Detroit Auto Show dates, which ran from January 12 to January 27.
A possible reason why total attendance was down by almost 35,000 from the 2018 show is the heavy snowfall and extreme cold experienced in the area, prompting the organizers to consider a warm-weather time frame for next year.
The 2019 Detroit Auto Show schedule was divided into six sub-events:
The Gallery – January 12
AutoMobili-D – January 14-17
Press Preview – January 14-15
Industry Preview – January 16-17
Charity Preview – January 18
Public Show – January 19-27
This year saw reveals from Toyota, Ford, and Ram emerging as event standouts. Toyota finally unveiled the 2020 Supra, a sports car the automotive giant has been hyping up years prior to NAIAS 2019. On the other hand, Ford debuted the new Explorer and the 2020 Mustang Shelby GT500, while Ram revealed their redesigned pickup truck line.
There were at least 44 vehicles, 31 of them world debuts, unveiled during the Press and Industry Preview. However, the event’s fundraiser proved to be the segment that took center stage, raising $4,000,000 for children’s charities in Detroit.
While the Detroit Motor Show found success in new releases and championing a cause, people took notice of big names bailing on the event. Analysts say brands such as Tesla, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Mazda, Land Rover, Audi, Mini, and Jaguar took a pass because most of them have already showcased their new products and vehicles at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which happened days before the Detroit International Auto Show.
It is said that this year will be the last January show and that the next NAIAS will be slated in June 2020.
Want more content on the biggest auto shows in the country? Check out APW’s exclusive coverage of SEMA 2018! Here’s the show’s most-anticipated event—the SEMA Cruise:
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